Longford Marathon 26th Aug 2012

DustyBin

www.longfordmarathon.com

Anyone else running this?
Reading last year's thread it seems like it was rather less well organised than previously, still though will be heading up there myself. Hopefully things will have been learned and improvements made. Small bottles of water would be big help, instead of cups. Website says water every 3 miles so that's ok.

Anyone any recommendations for accommodation?
Just looking for somewhere nice and quiet in the town for the night before, with parking.

DublinDilbert

Yep have signed up for it too. I haven't even thought about accommodation, not sure if I'll stay over or just travel down that morning. Should be good fun.

thehookster

Signed up for this as my first marathon, so really looking forward to it. Im living in Moate so im fairly local, theres the Longford Arms hotel in the centre of the town and plenty of B and B's too.

average_runner

Did the half last year and and a few years ago. While its expensive for a half, its a great race, well organised and great crowd at the finish.

Will be back next year

SnappyDresser

Have done the full and the half. Its flat, flat, flat. While u might think this will lead to fast times when one turns right at Roosky ~20miles there is always a tough wind to contend with. However it runs thru nice rural areas and athletes are always great on it.

clearc

Can anyone tell me the half marathon route? I cannot seem to find it on their website.

Qwerty27

Going to give this a go, seeing as its practically my local marathon! 2nd marathon after Dublin in 2010, sounds as if its going to be fairly quiet route going by last years thread!

Muppet Man

Yes, I'm down for the marathon. Anyone from Boards pacing 4 hours for the marathon?

Did the Half here 2 years ago and it was about as flat as you could expect in rural Ireland (a couple of rolling hills). Strange that they dont have a map of the half marathon yet, but I know there a lot of roadworks going on there at the moment and that might be effecting the course route. Not Sure.

Muppet Man.

TFBubendorfer

Muppet Man wrote: »

Anyone from Boards pacing 4 hours for the marathon?

I doubt it. The Longford RD hates the idea of pacers. He's old school.

BTH

Planning on running the half myself to decide on my target pace for my first full in DCM.


For the person looking for a B&B, this place is only about 2km outside the town centre, quiet location, and you'll be able to get into town on the race morning without any mass traffic hassle*. http://www.melviewlodge.com/

*-Depending on the roadworks currently keeping half the town closed.

Muppet Man

Just mailed the organisers about the Roadworks and the possibility of Pacers:

we have plans in place to deal with the roadworks, and no i am afraid we do not use pacers in the race.

Muppet Man

Aimman

thehookster wrote: »

Signed up for this as my first marathon, so really looking forward to it. Im living in Moate so im fairly local, theres the Longford Arms hotel in the centre of the town and plenty of B and B's too.

I've done the race a couple of times. It's going to be a challenging experience for your first one. There is very little support for the marathon and it's mainly because of the roads it goes along. Main N5 road all the way to Tarmonbarry with lots of traffic, then heads to Roosky on a quite winding road. From there, you take a smaller country laneway (the narrow type with grass in the middle of the road) to Newtownforbes and then another quiet backroad to meet the N4 and then running along that (into the main traffic with little hard shoulder) back into Longford town.

It is a very flat course but don't expect to see support outside of Tarmonbarry, Roosky and Newtownforbes except for the odd generous person with a refreshment table set up outside their house.

You might find it very lonely very quickly as the small field thins out and at times, you night think you've taken the wrong road, so on the road out to Tarmonbarry, try to find someone going at the same pace as yourself and keep each other company for the race.

I found it enjoyable and quiet and cant fault it the times I ran it except for the busy section along the N4 back into the town, but for a first marathon, you'll miss the crowds encouraging you along when you need it.

Oisin11178

Aimman wrote: »

I've done the race a couple of times. It's going to be a challenging experience for your first one. There is very little support for the marathon and it's mainly because of the roads it goes along. Main N5 road all the way to Tarmonbarry with lots of traffic, then heads to Roosky on a quite winding road. From there, you take a smaller country laneway (the narrow type with grass in the middle of the road) to Newtownforbes and then another quiet backroad to meet the N4 and then running along that (into the main traffic with little hard shoulder) back into Longford town.

It is a very flat course but don't expect to see support outside of Tarmonbarry, Roosky and Newtownforbes except for the odd generous person with a refreshment table set up outside their house.

You might find it very lonely very quickly as the small field thins out and at times, you night think you've taken the wrong road, so on the road out to Tarmonbarry, try to find someone going at the same pace as yourself and keep each other company for the race.

I found it enjoyable and quiet and cant fault it the times I ran it except for the busy section along the N4 back into the town, but for a first marathon, you'll miss the crowds encouraging you along when you need it.

Agree with this 100%. It was my first and i did indeed think i had gone the wrong way a couple of times as it was so quiet. Ive done it the last few years as well and it seems to be getting worse. Its sad to see as its one of irelands oldest marathons. The pacer fact alone shows that its behind the times.

thehookster

Aimman wrote: »

I've done the race a couple of times. It's going to be a challenging experience for your first one. There is very little support for the marathon and it's mainly because of the roads it goes along. Main N5 road all the way to Tarmonbarry with lots of traffic, then heads to Roosky on a quite winding road. From there, you take a smaller country laneway (the narrow type with grass in the middle of the road) to Newtownforbes and then another quiet backroad to meet the N4 and then running along that (into the main traffic with little hard shoulder) back into Longford town.

It is a very flat course but don't expect to see support outside of Tarmonbarry, Roosky and Newtownforbes except for the odd generous person with a refreshment table set up outside their house.

You might find it very lonely very quickly as the small field thins out and at times, you night think you've taken the wrong road, so on the road out to Tarmonbarry, try to find someone going at the same pace as yourself and keep each other company for the race.

I found it enjoyable and quiet and cant fault it the times I ran it except for the busy section along the N4 back into the town, but for a first marathon, you'll miss the crowds encouraging you along when you need it.

Cheers for that, i had heard alright its quite a lonely marathon, so ive been trying to train on long boring roads, so far so good. I had planned to Dublin as my first but herself is due our first baby in september so i was weary about the training for the last month so instead i picked Longford.
I wouldnt be a fast runner so i know i will probably running alone for majority of the marathon and have accepted that, itll be tough but i suppose its a big challenege for myself.
Can i ask, is the course marked with mile markers and directions etc... or do you just have to guess where to turn?

Qwerty27

Hows everyones training going? DId my last long run (20 miles) on Sat so preparation going well....sounds like a big difference from Dublin in terms of support and numbers...a different experience if nothing else!

Like all races, presume its not advisable to use headphones to try break up the monotiny?! Might have to sing a few songs to amuse myself!!

Art of Noise

After a slack July my training has gone quite well in August with a couple of 20+ Mile runs and a 17.6 Mile run at Marathon Pace.

Tapering now. Just hope my sweet tooth doesn't damage my chances too much in the next week!

I've done Longford a few times before and I've always found it gets a lot tougher after Rooskey around 15 miles. A bit different than Dublin which seems to have a tough start and approaching half way.

Muppet Man

Good luck to you.... I'm tapering now as well for Longford.... first time doing the Longford Marathon... Tapering seems sooo wrong

Muppet Man

Meant to say, about two weeks back I drove the Roosky to N4 "Backroad" that we will be running on and was met with 2 farmers on bikes, moving about 20 cows along the road, presumably back to the farm or another road. There was literally no way past. I had to back the car up 100 yards and park in gate to let them through. I couldnt help but smile when I wondered would the lads be moving the cows on marathon day... cos there just isnt any room to pass.

Qwerty27

Muppet Man wrote: »

Meant to say, about two weeks back I drove the Roosky to N4 "Backroad" that we will be running on and was met with 2 farmers on bikes, moving about 20 cows along the road, presumably back to the farm or another road. There was literally no way past. I had to back the car up 100 yards and park in gate to let them through. I couldnt help but smile when I wondered would the lads be moving the cows on marathon day... cos there just isnt any room to pass.

Rush hour Roscommon Style!!!

Tapering as well at this stage, will do a few miles tomorrow rto keep th legs ticking over but looking forward to it at this stage!

thehookster

Training was tough this last month, for some reason felt awful sluggish and alot sorer than usual. I am quite nervous for Sunday, my aim is just to finish as this time last year i could never have imagined id be running my first marathon, its something i never thought i would do. Of course i hope i could run a good race and i know training wise i can but sure we will see Sunday.
Anyone have any tips how to calm the nerves

ekevosu

I know nothing about Longford but thought it would be good to try a half marathon there. Where would the best places be for parking etc? I'll probably travel to dublin the night before and go from there. Is traffic going to be fairly heavy that morning? The website with the map of the start / finish areas were down when I tried. Best of luck to everyone doing it, should be fun. Must check the weather now.

BTH

ekevosu wrote: »

I know nothing about Longford but thought it would be good to try a half marathon there. Where would the best places be for parking etc? I'll probably travel to dublin the night before and go from there. Is traffic going to be fairly heavy that morning? The website with the map of the start / finish areas were down when I tried. Best of luck to everyone doing it, should be fun. Must check the weather now.

Traffic won't be heavy that morning. Rarely is on a Sunday, except for mass traffic. Tesco car park is probably the best bet. Left at the second roundabout on the bypass, right after 1km, left after another 1kish, and the carpark is the first right after that. Easy

DublinDilbert

Everone all set for Sunday? Checked out the elevation profile last night, doesn't look too bad.

wrstan

Have always heard good things about this race, so I signed up for the half last week. The biggest surprise for me was the cost - 50 bucks :eek:

Weather forecast looks good at this stage, not too hot and a very light breeze. Am looking forward to it.

TRR

Just looking at the website and there doesn't seem to be a map for the half marathon. Does anybody know if the half and full still start together? I know the last time I ran it, we started together and the half runners branched off after a mile or so and then joined the marathon course later on. Was a bit of a pain because we got stuck behind the back markers in the full marathon.

Muppet Man

Yes, Half marathon runners and full marathon runners start together at 11:00.

(Full marathon walkers and ultra runners start at 9:30, wheelchair at 10:45).

Muppet Man

TRR

Muppet Man wrote: »

Yes, Half marathon runners and full marathon runners start together at 11:00.

(Full marathon walkers and ultra runners start at 9:30, wheelchair at 10:45).

Muppet Man

Do you know if the half and full share part of the same course/route ?

Muppet Man

Its odd that they dont have a half marathon map up yet, so I'm kinda thinking the route has not been finalised or they havent managed to map it out yet... but, but the year I did it, the Half and Full marathons shared about the first 2 or 3 miles and the last 2 or 3 miles too. But there was very clear marshalling along the route before the junctions to ensure you didnt go the wrong route.

Muppet Man.

Oisin11178

Ill be doing the full route on Friday. Hope the weather is not to hot.

menoscemo

TRR wrote: »

Do you know if the half and full share part of the same course/route ?

Only about the first 2 or 3 miles. There are not massive crowds so it is not too congested.

XDA

Hi guys - half marathon route was an oversight on our part, i was sure it was up there, but we had a site redesign during the year and obviously it slipped by our web developers. Anyway I am assured that there are now 3 maps on the site for the Half, Full and Ultra.

There should even be a link from the home page of the site.

One other small point - the start / finish has moved from the old location on Ballymahon St to Main St down near the Longford Arms and that section of the street will be closed for the duration of the race. Otherwise the routes remain the same.

The maps are all from either garmin / mapmyrun site.

The Half is actually from my own garmin on last years race, the Ultra was me driving and the full is courtesy of another of last years participants.

Good luck to all running on Sunday - we're up to our necks in preparation here at the moment.

Regards

XDA

wrstan

Thanks for the info XDA

Up to what time can I collect my number on the day?

Ta

XDA

You can collect as late as you feel comfortable. We'll remain open right up to 11am but you'd realistically want to give yourself an hour or so for comfort, it can be pretty busy at number collection on Sunday morning.

ekevosu

I injured my lower calf area on a 15 mile long slow run on sunday somehow and its still at me today but I'm hoping its okay for the half marathon in Longford as its just annoying rather than painful. I think it will be fine with a bit of rest. I assume there is no way of cancelling or defering till next year if the worst comes to worst? I'm hopeful it won't though. Looking forward to it.

XDA

I'm sorry, we don't allow cancellation or deferral this close to race day.

Regards

Longford Marathon

Qwerty27

Looks like the weather should be dry tomorrow, even a little sun!

Best of luck to everyone, hope you enjoy it and meet your targets. Im aiming for around the 3.30 mark so fingers crossed, looking forward to it now and rearing to get going!!

Muppet Man

Best of luck to everyone running tomorrow!!! picked up a stupid ankle niggle on monday and its taken the shine off the race, but I'll line out anyway and see how far I get!

See ye there!
Muppet Man

Oisin11178

Ran the course yesterday. The start and finish are at slightly different points on the main street but not hugely different. There are 2 new roundabouts at about 5 miles and at about 25 miles that were not there last year, second nearly through me a little as i was on my own and no1 to follow. Not a bad course with a decent enough headwind on the N4 from about 18.75-21.75 miles. Always find this stretch hardest.

marathonm@n

Best of luck everybody. Hoping for sub3.30. Felt knackered all week. Had more energy when I was doing the high mileage. Hopefully not to hot.

marathonm@n

anybody know, are there any gels/sports drinks along the way? Thanks.

DublinDilbert

Good luck to everyone running tomorrow, hoping to be in around the 3:30 mark too if things go well. Should be good fun, conditions look favourable. I'll be the one running with the red (kinda faded) camel back...

menoscemo

1.26.28 for me in the half today. Big win for claralara in the ladies race in 1.27.xx

pconn062

menoscemo wrote: »

1.26.28 for me in the half today. Big win for claralara in the ladies race in 1.27.xx

Well done Meno, cracking result, looking forward to race report.

sideswipe

menoscemo wrote: »

1.26.28 for me in the half today. Big win for claralara in the ladies race in 1.27.xx

Cracking time Meno, congrats.

DublinDilbert

Well done to the organisers, all the volunteers and people running today. Was a great event. Came around in 3:40, 8 mins off a pb, but still happy enough.

corkrunner71

menoscemo wrote: »

1.26.28 for me in the half today. Big win for claralara in the ladies race in 1.27.xx

Well done Meno. Great running

ekevosu

Very very sunny out there but a great day. The organisation was great. I only did the half but thought it was a lot of fun which is all I wanted. The half was a bit hillier than I was expecting but not too much. The narrow finish line part was a nice touch. Well done everyone.

wrstan

+1 to all the positive comments on today's race, was really pleased I made the trip down, perfect conditions, vrey friendly event and earned myself a 5 min PB in the half despite feeling that the wheels were about to come off around 10 miles - had to do some serious talking to myself for a couple of miles. Oh and well done Meno on a cracking time!

Just one minor criticism on an otherwise excellent event: I find drinking from those light weight plastic cups is a total waste of time. Having dropped a couple, I eventually got hold of one, half of which went over my face and the rest down my wind pipe, leaving me choking for a couple fo hundred metres!

Art of Noise

Happy with my race today. Got a five minute PB in the marathon. I was doing fairly consistent seven minute miles for the first 18 miles and slowed a nice bit after that but hung on well for 3:05. Always plan to run at an even pace beforehand but its so hard to do in the marathon compared to other races.

While it was warm in the sun the wind conditions were very favorable. We never seemed to have much of a headwind for the entire race. Mind you a shower is always nice and there was certainly no sign of that today (for once).

Well done to all who ran in Longford today.

Qwerty27

Well done to everyone who took part yesterday as well as all the organisers, very well set up but definately needed little bottles of water on such a warm day! Found the last few miles very tough but came in just under my target of 3.30 so happy with that although very stiff and sore today!

Have to weight up wherther I want to put myself through it all again and enter Dublin now!!

Muppet Man

Well done everyone! Finished marathon in 3:52 and change, taking 28 minutes off previous PB. So it seems relentless training does work...... Hmm. :-)

Only gripes were no water on n4 around 20 mile mark when I was really suffering. Granted there was some in newtownforbes, but some before that might have been nice. Also, bottles please next time. And maybe some place for a shower after.... Great organisation though and well run, on a eautiful day.

Well done menesco on the terrific half. That was nuts.

Muppet man